JAKARTA – China wants to raise its import of palm oil from Indonesia from 6.0 million tons to 8.0 million tons as its economy has been recovering.
The Indonesian Palm Oil Association’s (GAPKI) Chairman Eddy Martono said that there has been a rising trend of palm oil demand from China during the last few years. Since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, China’s palm oil import from Indonesia was only 6.0 million tons. Until 2018, China was still the second largest importer of palm oil from Indonesia, but since 2019 it has outpaced India as the largest importer of Indonesia’s palm oil.
Eddy Martono said that China’s rising demand is a good news for Indonesia, which is facing palm oil export challenges in European Union (EU) due to the EU Deforestation regulation (EUDR) that restricts agricultural products, including palm oil.
“China’s demand for palm oil is rising amid efforts pursued by Indonesia to find new markets outside Europe. Its economic recovery after the receding of Covid-19 pandemic has pushed up the demand for vegetable oils, especially palm oil,” Eddy said during a public discussion on palm oil recently.
“I’ve just returned from China. They wanted to increase their palm oil purchase from Indonesia. During the Covid-19 they imported only 6.0 million tons. This year, they will increase it to 7.0 million tons. Hopefully, they will further increase it to 8 million tons or even more. But despite the fact, we together with the government will continue seeking new markets in the non-traditional markets,” he said.
According to data from GAPKI, Indonesia’s exports of palm oil during January-June 2023 reached 16.31 million tons, an increase of 35.49% compared to the same period last year at 12.04 million tons. The increase was resulted from the rise of demand from China and South Asian countries– India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
“The exports to China and South Asian countries increased sharply after seeing a decrease during the last few months,” he said recently.
In terms of value, Indonesia’s export value of palm oil during January-June 2023 reached US$14.6 billion or a decrease of 17.18% compared to that of the same period last year at US$17.63 billion. The decrease of export value was due to the low prices of crude palm oil (CPO).
The CPO price at the international market has been continually seeing a declining trend. The price of CPO CIF Rotterdam in 2022 for July was US$1,203 per ton, August US$1,095 per ton, September US$1,048 per ton, October US$1,043 per ton, November US$1,099 per ton, and Desember US$1,035 per ton.
The price in 2023 for January was US$1,024 per ton, February US$997 per ton, March US$1,031 per ton, April US$1,025 per ton, May US$940 per ton, and June US$905 per ton. Such declining trend was also seen by other vegetable oils, including sunflower which was only US$923 per ton in June 2023. (*)
Source: investor.id
